1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solar battery module arranging method and a solar battery module array and, more particularly, to an arranging method for arranging solar battery modules having a rectangular form and same size on a setting surface such as a roof, and a solar battery module array arranged by the arranging method.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method for arranging a roofing material and, more specifically, a stepping roof or Bermuda-type roof material on a roof surface, the dutch-lap method (FIG. 2) or the Mechigai-roofing method/shift-roofing method (FIG. 3) is used. These roofing material arranging methods are advantageous in obtaining a good outer appearance because roofing materials 201 are arranged at a predetermined joint shift width 205 from eaves 202 at the lower end side of the roof to a ridge 203 as at the upper end side of the roof. In these arranging methods, for weathering, the joint portions are shifted at a period corresponding to three lines of the roofing materials in the vertical direction (the distance at which the joints are shifted will be referred to as a xe2x80x9cshift widthxe2x80x9d hereinafter). The roofing materials 201 are cut along a roof boundary portion 204 for corner-ridge cover or verge cover. The xe2x80x9cshift-roofing methodxe2x80x9d is a method of regularly horizontally changing the positions of joints of the roofing materials forming lines in units of lines of the roofing materials.
However, direct application of the above roofing material arranging methods to roofing material integrated solar battery modules results in the following disadvantages.
1. Since a roofing material integrated solar battery module cannot be cut, the setting place for the roofing material integrated solar battery modules is limited. For, e.g., a hip roof, the allowable setting range narrows from the eaves to the ridge, so a number of roofing material integrated solar battery modules cannot be arranged.
2. When the roofing material integrated solar battery modules are not regularly arranged, the outer appearance of the roof is degraded.
3. Electrical wiring is difficult.
For example, in FIGS. 2 and 3, general roofing materials 201 each having a cover width of 200 mm and a length of 2,000 mm are arranged on a trapezoidal roof surface with a 5,000-mm long upper-end roof side (ridge 203), a 12,000-mm long lower-end roof side (eaves 202), and a 4,500-mm long roof inclination by shift-roofing (FIG. 2) and dutch-lap method (FIG. 3).
In both FIGS. 2 and 3, at the roof boundary 204, the general roofing materials 201 having a length of 2,000 mm project from the roof surface, so the general roofing materials 201 are cut along the roof boundary 204. FIGS. 4 and 5 show states wherein roofing material integrated solar battery modules each having a cover width of 200 mm and a length of 2,000 mm, i.e., the same shape as that of the general roofing material 201, are arranged on this roof surface. A simple algorithm for arrangement of roofing material integrated solar battery modules will be described below.
In FIG. 4, letting A be the length of the inclination direction in the allowable setting range, the number of lines of roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 which can be set is given as the maximum integer satisfying the following inequality:
number of linesxe2x89xa6A/(cover width of roofing material integrated solar battery module)
In FIG. 4, the number of lines is 19.
The allowable maximum setting number of the roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 on the first line counted from the eaves is calculated. Letting B be the common length of an upper-side module line 407 and a lower-side module line 408 in the allowable setting range of the target line (in FIG. 4, the common length equals the length of the upper-side module line 407), the allowable maximum setting number is given as the maximum integer satisfying the following inequality:
allowable maximum setting numberxe2x89xa6B/(length of roofing material integrated solar battery module)
In FIG. 4, the allowable maximum setting number for the first line counted from the eaves 202 is 4.
For subsequent lines, the roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 are arranged while keeping the shift width 205. Four roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 are arranged on each line from the eaves 202. On the sixth line, the roofing material integrated solar battery module 401 at the right end falls outside the allowable setting range and cannot be arranged. On the seventh line, the roofing material integrated solar battery module 401 at the left end falls outside the allowable setting range and cannot be arranged. For these reasons, the number of roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 set on each of the sixth and seventh lines is 3. Similarly, two roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 are arranged on each of the eighth to 18th lines, and one roofing material integrated solar battery module 401 is arranged on the 19th line.
In FIG. 5 as well, the same arranging method as described above is used except that the shift width 205 decreases to xc2xd the length of the roofing material integrated solar battery module 401. In this case, the number of set roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 is 4 for the first, third, and fifth lines, 3 for the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, 10th, and 12th lines, 2 for the seventh, ninth, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th lines, and 1 for the 14th, 16th, and 18th lines.
In the arranging methods shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the roof area other than the area occupied by solar battery modules is large. For this reason, a number of solar battery modules cannot be arranged (the above-mentioned problem 1). Additionally, since the solar battery modules are irregularly arranged (FIG. 5), the outer appearance is not good (the above-mentioned problem 2). In the arranging methods shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, since the distance between roofing material integrated solar battery modules 401 on adjacent lines is large, a lot of connection cables 406 are required to connect the connectors of the solar battery modules, resulting in low execution efficiency and high cost (the above-mentioned problem 3).
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and provide a solar battery module arranging method for optimally arranging solar battery modules having a rectangular form and same size on a setting surface.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an arranging method for arranging solar battery modules having a rectangular form and same size on a surface, comprising the steps of determining an arrangement range in which the solar battery modules can be arranged on the surface; determining an arranging direction of the solar battery modules; calculating the number of solar battery modules which can be arranged substantially horizontally in a line in the determined arranging direction and within the arrangement range; combining solar battery modules of a line in a number not more than the calculated number to form a solar battery module group; and arranging the solar battery module group so as to set the center of the solar battery module group within the determined arrangement range and near a line substantially vertically dividing the surface into two parts.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a solar battery module array arranged by the above solar battery module arranging method.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an array of solar battery modules having a rectangular form and same size which is arranged on a surface by the arranging method of the present invention, wherein the solar battery modules are electrically connected.
According to the solar battery module arranging method and solar battery module array, a larger number of solar battery modules can be arranged on the setting surface to increase the light-receiving area to be used for solar power generation, and the solar battery modules can be easily electrically connected to each other without degrading the outer appearance of the setting surface.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.